Northern amber bumble bee
Bombus borealis
The northern amber bumble bee is a fluffy bumblebee with golden yellow hair on its body and pale, almost white hair on its head. It lives in the north of North America. It buzzes from flower to flower in woodlands.
Lives in
Canada, Alaska and the northern and eastern United States, in woodlands
Length
1.3 to 1.7 cm (0.51 to 0.67 in)
workers and malesWhat does it eat?
It drinks nectar and collects pollen from clovers, thistles, goldenrods, wild blackberries, vetches and other flowers.
How big is it?
How long is it?
🍚as long as 3 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 24 seconds⚡moves 260 times its own body length every second
How big is Northern amber bumble bee compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Northern amber bumble bee about 16 km/h (9.9 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
The queen is the biggest bee in the family, about 2 centimetres long.
2
It usually builds its nest underground.
3
The males wait near the nests to find a queen to mate with.
you asked
Most asked questions about Northern amber bumble bee
?What flowers does the northern amber bumble bee visit?
Clovers, thistles, goldenrods, wild blackberries, vetches, comfrey and more.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Bombus borealis
- Group
- Bees and bumblebees
- Family
- Apidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Apidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Northern amber bumblebee
Where the facts come from
- Bombus borealis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Dan MacNeal. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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